The activities that nurses working in community mental health perform: a geographical comparison

OBJECTIVE: The primary aim of the present study was to identify the activities that nurses in community mental health services undertake. METHOD: A dataset containing records of the community and ambulatory interventions involving the nursing staff of 252 mental health facilities was analysed. RESULTS: Nurses spend most of their time performing clinical care (78%), followed by clinical organisation (12%), mental health administration (6%) and integration activities (4%). There were minimal differences between treating units located in metropolitan, rural and remote areas in terms of the numbers of consumers receiving care, the time nurses spent with consumers, the types of nursing activities undertaken and the amounts of time spent on each of the four types of nursing activities. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that nurses in mental health community settings spend more time in clinical care than nurses in other healthcare settings.